


Dark Inside

by Ace Of Hearts (huntingmyths)



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Angst and Feels, Introspection, M/M, Protectiveness, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:54:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22156612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huntingmyths/pseuds/Ace%20Of%20Hearts
Summary: Vergil would do anything to protect his family. Even giving them up in order to protect them.
Relationships: Dante/Vergil (Devil May Cry)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 80





	Dark Inside

On top of the Temen-ni-gru, it never occurred to Vergil that he might be pregnant. Despite the fact that demons were inter-sexed and it was perfectly feasible, he had assumed that he and Dante being half-demon weren’t fertile. This meant that he had no issue letting Dante fuck him before he fought his brother and feel into the Underworld.

He had been captive by Mundus after being beaten nearly to death when he started becoming nauseous often and becoming more tired even beyond what he should have been. He didn’t think anything of that either until Mundus one day ordered him to stay down on the ground with an amused grin. He wanted to get back up, but he couldn’t bring himself to even as the demon king flipped him over to reveal a small bump coming from Vergil’s stomach.

Mundus had been gleeful over the idea of Vergil being pregnant, using the fact to get Vergil to comply with demands even more. The idea of Mundus getting his hands on the child that was created from himself and Dante was sickening to Vergil. He couldn’t let that happen, couldn’t let Mundus corrupt the child to use as a weapon.

When he was seven months pregnant, Vergil managed to escape from Mundus, making his way back to the human world with the Yamato. Logically, he knew that he should go to Dante, but his fear more than kept him away. Dante didn’t need to be involved with the whole situation with Mundus and the fact that Vergil was pregnant - if he knew about what happened, Dante would make it his business. No, it was safer for both Dante and their unborn child if they didn’t know about each other.

For the next eight weeks, Vergil spent his time moving nearly nonstop, using the Yamato to enter grocers and steal enough food to keep him and the unborn child in his stomach alive. The child, for his part, was constantly moving which Vergil assumed was a good thing. Perhaps not so good when he was trying to sleep, but it meant that the child was alive.

When he started feeling the contractions, Vergil made his way to the one place he swore he would never go again. The house was dark and empty in the middle of the night, the only comfort were the wards that covered the basement - Why didn’t you hide down here? Why did you focus on saving Dante and not come down here where you would be safe? - that would keep all the demons away while he gave birth and recovered.

Hours later of pain that was on par with Mundus’s torture, Vergil sat against the wall with a baby fast asleep against him. He trembled, watching the tiny, innocent, defenseless creature in his arms. He would give anything to keep the child, but keeping the child confined to this small room wasn’t fair nor healthy.

The baby was bundled in a blanket that had been found in a box in the room. It was a small, light blue blanket that had Vergil’s initials stitched into the corner. It had grey eyes and a small tuft of white hair that was reminiscent of both its parents.

“I’ll return for you one day,” Vergil whispered to the sleeping newborn clutched in his arms. “Once Mundus is dead, I’ll find you and take you to your father so we can all have a life together, my Little Wanderer.”

He stayed like that until the morning, only getting up to grab a piece of paper and a pen to write a note, when the sun was barely beginning to rise. The newborn was fed before Vergil donned his cloak and grabbed the Yamato, using it to slice through dimensions and come out in the one place that he knew Dante would never step foot in. He quickly found the orphanage and lay the child in a basket he found outside of the building before banging on the door to convince someone to open it.

He remained hidden but in view of the door so he could see an older woman open the door and find the newborn. She looked shocked but took the child inside before Vergil turned to leave. He would have to return to Mundus - the king’s demons had been chasing him the entire time he had been on the run - but he silently promised himself that he would never forget his child. The baby who had spent nine months growing inside of him was something he would never allow himself to forget.

**

It had been nine years since Nelo Angelo had given birth to his child before returning to Mundus. His Master had been kind enough to allow him memories of the child who had been born from him. The child who looked more human than demon, who he had left with humans for its own protection. The child he had promised to return to eventually.

It was his master’s kindness that kept the child safe from any demons that would go after it. That would keep it in a place where his master wouldn’t be able to bring any harm to it. The tiny human who barely fit in his head. So long as he obeyed orders and did as he was told, the child would be safe.

As Nelo Angelo was defeated, he felt pain that he could never remember feeling as he drifted into the air only to be consumed by blue flames. They ate through his body, but that wasn’t what hurt him - the physical pain he could deal with. It was the image of the newborn baby he would never be able to see again, who would have no idea of its lineage or the power it held.

My Little Wanderer, I am sorry. I have failed you…

**

Vergil never expected to survive after his time as Nelo Angelo under Mundus’s control. He never expected that he would be able to find a way to live again, but he had even if he was barely more than a wraith. He had to get stronger, find more power so he couldn’t be used again. So that he could protect his child that was still at the orphanage in Fortuna. He would go back for the child once he had enough power to protect his own blood.

When he sensed the Yamato, he went towards it. He needed his sword to accomplish his plan and it was in Fortuna, though it was on the other side of the island from where he remembered the orphanage to be. The fact that there was another demon he could sense near the Yamato concerned him, though. As soon as he had the Yamato and more power, he would return to kill this demon and take his child into his protection.

He had no issue with tearing the demon’s arm off his body in order to get the Yamato back, tearing a hole in the dimension, struggling to walk through it only to come out at his childhood home. The place his mother abandoned him and the place he spent his only night with his own child before he had to give them up.

“Soon,” Vergil muttered to himself. “Soon I’ll be strong enough to protect you.”

**

When V first heard about Nero, he had to admit that he was curious. The fact that he was a half-demon from Fortuna when there hadn’t been any demons nearby when he had left the child as Vergil. He wondered if other demons who had moved there after he’d left his child.

When he saw the half-demon, his heart dropped into his stomach. The demon he had torn the arm off of and silently promised to kill was his child. He could never forget those grey eyes that he had stared up at him. He had wanted to protect his child while the rest of the world could burn, but he had been the one to hurt the child.

“You ever gonna tell the kid?” Griffon asked as they walked through the Qliphoth. “About you being Mommy dearest?”

“He’s better off not knowing.”

“That’s a lie and you know it. Everything you’ve done has been for him.”

V sighed in frustration as he stopped walking. “And where did that get me? I’m the one who destroyed his life because power was more important than anything.”

With that, V summoned Griffon back before looking at Shadow who nuzzled the human’s hand. He scratched the demon on the head as he stared at the large cat. He’d noticed that Shadow tended to curl up at Nero’s feet - demanding pets from the boy frequently - and he couldn’t blame the demon. They were all part of his time as Nelo Angelo and the only thing he ever wanted to protect was his child.

“If nothing else, I’ll tell him about Dante,” he sighed, continuing to watch Shadow. “Once this is all over, I’ll tell him.”

**

“Yet we are connected by that one feeling,” V panted as he stared at his demon half. “To keep him safe.”

He paused, staring at the demon before he thrust his cane into the demon, effectively fusing the both of them back together.

Vergil was suddenly whole again for the first time in years. He could think clearly, remember everything that had happened during his time both as V and as his demon self. The fact that he had been the one to injure his own son still hurt like no other, but now was not the time to dwell on that. He could think things over and decide what he planned to do with Nero now he was whole and powerful again.

He heard his brother state his name, causing him to turn around, but his eyes did not move to his twin. Instead, they moved immediately to Nero and his mechanical arm. Even with that faux arm, his son was still powerful. Powerful enough to protect himself where Vergil couldn’t.

After a moment, he glanced down and picked up his book of poems that he’d kept hold of as V. He blocked Dante’s attack, remaining on the defensive before he told Dante to get strong so they could have a true fight. In truth, he wanted to ensure that even if he couldn’t be there for their son, Dante could protect him.

As soon as he was alone on top of the Qliphoth, Vergil allowed himself to cry for the first time since he’d stared at the naked newborn in his arms all those years ago. The only person he had ever and would ever cry for would be his son. That much was a guarantee.

Not for the first time in his life, he wished that he had taken Dante’s hand on the top of Temen-ni-gru. How different would their lives be if that had happened? Not only his and Dante’s, but also Nero’s.

He stared at the page in the back of the book where he as V had written a letter to Nero on a loose piece of paper. A letter dictating all the regrets he had as well as explaining everything about Nero’s parentage. A letter that would state the fact that he had ripped his own child’s arm off - the child that he himself birthed alone in that basement while he ran from Mundus.

When Dante finally arrived, Vergil wanted to tell him everything. He wanted to admit about Nero and his regrets that he had for not informing Dante. He wanted to apologize for hiding everything from his twin.

Instead, they fought just as they always had. Dante had to prove to Vergil that he was strong enough to protect Nero - even if their child was grown, he was still a fledgling demon - and teach him about his powers.

When Nero interrupted the fight, Vergil took this as a chance to test his son’s abilities. He was curious as to how powerful Nero was - he couldn’t gauge it accurately as V - and whether he needed to push his son more. He couldn’t bring himself to use his full abilities, unable to hurt his own son, but he pushed the boy as hard as he could. Dante had to know that he wasn’t giving it his all.

“Oh, Brother,” Dante chuckled as he finally sat up once the fight had ended. “You cut off your own son’s arm for more power and you still lost.”

Vergil seethed silently at those words. He had been delirious out of his mind and focusing on finding the Yamato so he could gain more power to protect his child. He hadn’t expected the demon he had ripped the arm from to be their child. He hadn’t anticipated that so many years had passed.

In the end, he wound up returning to the Underworld once again, abandoning their child. He had left the letter in the back of the book, asking Nero to hold onto it before disappearing after Dante. He knew that they could return with the Yamato once it had finished, though he was unsure as to how much Dante would like him continuing to use the sword.

“Your not Nero’s father,” Dante stated matter of factly once they had taken care of the demons that attacked them.

“Where did you get that assumption from?”

“How did you make it to Fortuna with him? You were in the Underworld when-”

“Mundus allowed me to escape,” came the answer that Vergil hadn’t wanted anyone to know. “Dragged me back the day after he was born.”

“You could have come to me, Vergil. You could have-”

“I would not have risked you putting yourself in danger for me. It was safer for both you and Nero to keep you as far away as possible.”

There was a pause before Dante asked, “Am I his father?”

“Foolish Dante,” Vergil scoffed at the question. He wanted to say yes, wanted to admit that they had a son together, but instead he responded with, “Only ever thinking of yourself.”

**

The arrival back to the human world was something that gave Vergil anxiety. He had no idea if Nero had read the letter he’d written and, even if he had would he want the half-demon anywhere near him. He considered sending Dante back to the human world and remaining in the Underworld himself, but Dante’s taunts won out in the end. If nothing else, he would watch his son grow up from afar, protect him from all that he could.

The arrival at Devil May Cry had been something that Vergil wanted to run from once he sensed Nero nearby. The boy was normally in Fortuna when he wasn’t on a job according to Dante so it was strange for him to be here.

As soon as they stepped in, it was to find Nero sitting on the threadbare couch with a small blanket in his hands that made Vergil want to leave the building immediately. He stood with a blank face, watching as the boy didn't look up at them. In fact, he didn't seem to register the fact Vergil and Dante has just walked into the room.

"You okay, kid?" Dante asked.

Nero's head snapped up. He looked between the two half demons as if he was seeing them for the first time. Vergil took a step back, ready to flee as his eyes met his son's. It would be so easy to disappear and watch from afar.

"I was coming to meet Trish when I sensed the both of you," Nero said.

"What's that blanket?"

Dante didn't have to ask that question. Vergil knew that Dante recognized the blanket as one from their childhood. His twin had the exact same blanket in red stashed away somewhere - maybe it was still in the basement in Redgrave - with his own initials stitched as well. But it was probably for Nero's benefit incase the boy didn’t want to say anything.

“It’s, uh, it’s a blanket. It’s what I was wrapped in when they found me outside the orphanage.”

“You wanted to bring it here for nostalgia’s sake?”

Nero shook his head, saying, “Kyrie and I broke up. I just… this is the first place that’s really felt like home and I was… Morrison said I could stay until I found a place of my own.”

Vergil kept his eyes on Nero as Dante walked over and asked, “Was it the demon thing?”

“It was everything. It was… how the hell am I supposed to even try to explain that letter to her?”

“Letter?” Dante repeated in confusion.

Vergil walked over to the jukebox that he recognized from their mother’s personal belongings. Anything to avoid Dante and their son’s attention on him. He wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure how to. He wasn’t sure Nero would even want to talk to him.

“I want to hate you,” came his son’s voice. “I want to hate everything you stand for, but I… you’re a bastard. Kyrie doesn’t understand how I can forgive you after… after everything.”

“I did not write that in order for you to pity me,” Vergil coldly stated, refusing to turn around.

He heard movement as Nero said, “My entire life, I wanted… I just wanted someone to care for me. I wanted someone to want me for me. I want to be loved.”

“Your point?”

“I don’t pity you, but… it explained a lot. I feel like I understand you better. Even if you did tear my arm off.”

“I-”

There was a sigh before Nero snapped, “Will you at least look at me?”

Vergil hesitated before turning to stare at his son with a blank face. He waited to be yelled at, to be told that he was a failure as a parent. To be told that he couldn’t do anything right and his son didn’t want him in his life.

“I always wanted to be able to ask if I wasn’t good enough. If I was a mistake that my parents didn’t want because the orphanage told me that I had to be the son of a prostitute since I had no idea who either of my parents were.”

Vergil had to force his demon side down at the fact that the fools in Fortuna had called him a prostitute. His demon side wanted to make them pay for how difficult they made his son’s life. He would show those pathetic humans that he would do anything to protect his son.

“Vergil.” His gaze snapped to his twin who was still sprawled out on the couch. “Control your demon, Brother.”

Vergil nodded silently, his expression still blank as he focused on it. He could deal with those in Fortuna at a later time. Right now, he had to finish this conversation with his son.

“I know now that I was wanted. But it still doesn’t explain… you could have brought me here. To Dante.”

“The fool would have confronted Mundus and been taken just as I was. Then where would you be?”

Vergil watched as Nero swallowed before asking, “Did you… you skipped about your time with Mundus.”

“Those memories are better forgotten,” came Vergil’s cold reply. “But I will admit that I submitted to protect you. Mundus would threaten to find you if I didn’t comply. I do know that my child was the only memory I retained as Nelo Angelo.”

“You wrote him a letter?” Dante asked. “About your life.”

“When I was V, I was… angry with myself. I promised myself that I would tell him everything after the battle with Urizen. Writing is a simpler form of communication that allows me to explain everything.”

“Not everything.” He tensed as he stared at his son, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “It doesn’t tell me how you feel now that you know as Vergil. It also doesn’t… it doesn’t mention the name of my other parent.”

“It doesn’t,” he agreed.

Nero rounded on Dante, Vergil watching his twin as their son questioned, “Did you know about this?”

“I had an idea, but I hadn’t explained about demonic anatomy to you because without a true demon form, it didn’t seem to apply to you.” Dante shrugged. “Saying he was your father was the simplest way to say it right then.”

“Foolish Dante,” Vergil muttered.

“Do you know who my other parent is?” Nero asked his father.

“Thought I did, but your mom right there told me differently.”

“Did I?” 

Vergil stared at Dante, meeting his twin’s eyes as he watched them widen in shock. The older twin couldn’t help the smirk on his face as he watched the emotions that ran across Dante’s face. The shock, the happiness, the sadness, finally settling on getting up and tackling Nero in a hug.

“Get off of me, Dante.”

Dante’s gaze met Vergil’s, the red eyes indicating that the demon had taken over his brother. Vergil just nodded in agreement before the demon started nuzzling Nero’s hair, inhaling the scent of their child that they had created together.

“Stop it,” Nero snapped, trying to push the older demon off once Dante had triggered and the demon was now cleaning the boy with his tongue. “What’s gotten into you? This is disgusting.”

Vergil couldn’t help the smirk as he sat down, placing the Yamato on the table in front of him next to the blanket Nero had set down when Vergil wasn’t looking.

“Leave him be,” Vergil told his son as he continued to watch them closely. “He deserves this after I kept you from him for so long.”

“You didn’t-”

Vergil’s words seemed to click in Nero’s mind as he turned to look at Dante who crooned happily as he continued to clean their son. Vergil’s demon became concerned as he saw the boy begin to tremble in Dante’s hold, causing him to move towards them. Dante’s growl was nothing compared to the warning snarl that escaped Vergil even in his human form.

He watched as Dante retreated, giving Vergil space as the half-demon walked towards his son. He knelt down next to Nero, keeping his distance though he wanted to pull the child into his arms. His demon wanted to check Nero over, to make certain that Dante hadn’t harmed their child.

“What was that?”

“The only time that Dante’s demon will bend to me.”

“Why?”

“Because I am the one who carried you and who would normally care for you as Dante provided food and protection.”

Vergil watched as Nero hesitated before asking, “Why did you do that?”

“You were shaking. My demon wanted to ensure you’re okay.”

There was a long pause as Vergil continued to watch his son while keeping an eye on Dante out of the corner of his eye. Nero stared back at Vergil before he suddenly demon triggered and moved to Vergil, nuzzling against him. Vergil stared down into his son’s now-yellow eyes as he crooned, nuzzling his child. His child who he had wanted back in his hold for so long.

“Mine,” Vergil growled.

He sensed something approaching before snarling at Dante who was standing too close. Dante, who had turned back into his human form, just grinned lazily as he said, “We’ll protect him, Verg. Together.”

Yes, Vergil would finally have what he wanted all those years ago when he was trapped by Mundus and fearing for his and his unborn child’s safety. He would have his family with him and he would not allow anything to hurt them.


End file.
